LoRa 2.4 GHz Communication Link and Range

Recently, Semtech has released a Long Range (LoRa) chipset which operates at the globally available [Formula: see text] GHz frequency band, on top of the existing sub-GHz, km-range offer, enabling hardware manufacturers to design region-independent chipsets. The SX1280 LoRa module promises an ultra-long communication range while withstanding heavy interference in this widely used band. In this paper, we first provide a mathematical description of the physical layer of LoRa in the [Formula: see text] GHz band. Secondly, we investigate the maximum communication range of this technology in three different scenarios. Free space, indoor and urban path loss models are used to simulate the propagation of the [Formula: see text] GHz LoRa modulated signal at different spreading factors and bandwidths. Additionally, we investigate the corresponding data rates. The results show a maximum range of 333 [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] in free space, 107 [Formula: see text] in an indoor office-like environment and 867 [Formula: see text] in an outdoor urban context. While a maximum data rate of [Formula: see text] kbit/s can be achieved, the data rate at the longest possible range in every scenario equals [Formula: see text] kbit/s. Due to the configurable bandwidth and lower data rates, LoRa outperforms other technologies in the [Formula: see text] GHz band in terms of communication range. In addition, both communication and localization applications deployed in private LoRa networks can benefit from the increased bandwidth and localization accuracy of this system when compared to public sub-GHz networks.